Tristan Osborne
Main Page: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)Department Debates - View all Tristan Osborne's debates with the Ministry of Justice
(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
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Freddie van Mierlo (Henley and Thame) (LD)
Tristan Osborne (Chatham and Aylesford) (Lab)
Mr Lammy
We must have swifter justice for victims of rape. When I was shadow Justice Secretary, I was appalled that under the previous Government we got to a position where we had almost decriminalised the situation because there were so few prosecutions. There must be justice, and that means swifter justice.
Tristan Osborne
In west Kent, an initiative to share the resource of Maidstone Crown court with Woolwich Crown court is spreading cases into areas where there is not such a backlog. Can the Government indicate whether that is being openly considered in other parts of the country so that we can spread the backlog across different areas?
Mr Lammy
It is absolutely the case that where courts are coming together and being proactive, we are seeing progress. I look forward to looking more closely at the example of Maidstone and Woolwich. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that that is the way forward.